Final batch of 15mm Medieval English Longbowmen

A quick post on my final batch of  15mm Medieval English Longbowmen. I wanted to slip these in before I got started on a Teutonic army as I know if I leave them too long I will forget what colours I used on the previous group, and how I tackled the figures:

I know others keep a record of the colours, but the details on each figure and my interpretation of what they represent is also the type of thing I find difficult to remember if I have left it too long between batches:

The figures are again from Khurasan and were great to paint:

That's another twelve elements, or 48 figures, completed to provide a total of 24 elements and 96 figures of English longbow:

Here they are with the original group. At least I know I have the nucleus of an English 100 Years War army now completed and a useful contingent of allies for the many other medieval army lists in which they make an appearance:

I think I'll carry on with medievals for a little longer, while I still have the motivation, and have made a start on the Teutonic army. Hopefully more on that within the next week.

15mm Spanish Medieval Army Completed

I had originally hoped to have this army completed by the end of August, but effectively finished three weeks into September, so just over three and a half months. I enjoyed painting this army and they have ventured on to the field for a glorious win against some 100 Years War English, so I thought it time to organise a quick parade of the finished project:

The figures are all Khurasan, with the exception of the artillery which is from Essex Miniatures and the camp items which were purchased from Baueda:

I used a mixture of Little Big Men Studio and Pete's Flags designs for the knights pennants and some of the shield designs. Pete gave me his blessing to shrink them down a couple of sizes and even offered to do them for me which was extremely nice of him, but I took them to the local Officeworks and for a couple of dollars gained access to one of their high quality copiers:

I found this to be quite a manageable project, mainly because there were not masses of any one particular troop type, so the variety kept my interest levels up:

In total there are 498 figures, comprised of 105 horses and 393 foot and mounted figures:

Next up will be the last of the English longbowmen which will form the nucleus of that army, and then I'll stick with Medievals until Christmas and try to complete a Teutonic army which I have dragged out of the pile and started assembling, and am quite looking forward to getting stuck into.

15mm Swiss Halberdiers and Baggage

This last group of sixteen figures means the medieval Spanish army is now complete. Rated as superior pike, these Swiss halberdiers will make the occasional appearance in future games:

Relatively simple figures, they were great to paint. Probably because they were straightforward to do, and there were only sixteen of them:

I did briefly entertain the thought of fielding an entire Swiss army, but when I found the army is made up almost entirely of halberdiers I realised that the novelty would soon wear off, plus it would probably be rather boring to play:

I also completed some Bauda medieval tents, with a large command tent I painted in Spanish-style colours:

A couple of smaller tents:

Plus some field huts:

Nice little models, as Baueda products invariably are:

That's the Spanish army completed then. I will quickly do some more English longbowmen to form the nucleus of that army, and then will probably stick with medievals for a little while longer and have a go at a Teutonic army which I uncovered while assembling the Spanish.

15mm Medieval Spanish Javelinmen

I actually finished these figures a few weeks ago but have not had a chance to take any pictures until earlier this week. Sixteen elements of auxiliary infantry and four of light, comprising 56 figures in total:

As with the rest of the army, the figures are from Khurasan with four poses in each pack:

These can be upgraded to Superior when fielding an Aragonese Spanish army, so can hold their own against many other troop types:

These are the last main unit in the army, although I still have a few Swiss mercenaries and some baggage elements to go to fully round things out. Hopefully I will have a few pictures of those up shortly after the weekend.

I noticed blogger misbehaved again during the week, dropping around half the links to the blogs I like to access. The links were actually still there, but without any feed coming through. A rather unedifying hour spent deleting and reconstituting those affected sorted things out, but I'm still a bit mystified as to what happened. I suppose Blogger is free, but I'd happily pay a small monthly subscription for them not to mess around with such things for no obvious improvement.

15mm Medieval Artillery

 I needed a couple of artillery pieces for my Spanish army, and these models from Essex Miniatures caught my eye:

Even though I only require two for the Spanish list, I have done six as a few will find use in other Medieval projects I have ahead of me:

Essex figures can be an acquired taste and the pointing figure seems to turn up in a few ranges, but their artillery pieces are very nice. I particularly like the siege guns, and the two with the mantlets are probably my favourite with the wood grain nicely sculpted and just pronounced enough for dry-brushing to bring it out:

That's the artillery for this project completed:

Next up will be the last group of Spanish required, which are some lighter javelin-armed troops. I also have sixteen Swiss mercenaries to complete however which, while not strictly Spanish, are an option under the DBMM Spanish lists. I was aiming to complete the entire project by the end of August and, depending how the weekend goes, might get close.

15mm Medieval Spanish Knights and High Command

Nearly at the end of the project now, with the completion of twelve elements of Spanish knights:

As expected these took some time, especially in coming up with individual designs. Thankfully I ordered a few sheets of Little Big Men decals which I used on around half the figures. These were generic designs so took a bit of cutting and blending to make them work with the Khurasan figures:

The sheets included a few lance pennons, and I ordered some Spanish flags from Pete's Flags to add a bit of variety. The latter are more aimed at later medieval and Renaissance figures but I think they work quite well here:

The flags were however larger than I expected, designed as they are for standard bearers, so I reduced them by a third. I have emailed and asked him for permission to do this and will not be using any designs over and above what I actually purchased (there are a around two dozen on each sheet and I am only using a four or five of them). If he objects though I'll scrap them and replace them:

This is an example of the Little Big Men flags that came with the shield designs:

That's the knights completed then:

At the same time I completed three High Command elements to use as generals:

These are Khurasan's generic medieval high command, but I think they fit in quite nicely alongside the rest of the Spanish:

Next off the painting queue will be some artillery pieces which I am hoping to complete over the weekend.

15mm Medieval Spanish Spearmen

A quick post on the next group of figures in my Spanish medieval army project, this time ten elements of spearmen with pavise shields:

I initially thought about taking the easy way out and just giving them plain pavise shields, but decided to paint them to add a splash of colour to the army:

The figures are gain from Khurasan Miniatures:

Not quite as colourful from behind:

Next up, the star of the show in the form of a dozen elements of Spanish men-at-arms. Once they are completed things should be on track for the army to make its debut against some 100 Years War English before the end of this month.